This behind-the-scenes clip from "Coco" reveals why Abuelita uses a chancla to enforce her rules

There was arguably no bigger animated film last year than Disney and Pixar’s Coco, a heartwarming story about family — and remembering those who came before you. In the film, 12-year-old Miguel, an aspiring musician, finds himself transported to the Land of the Dead on the eve of Día de los Muertos, and must find a way to return to the land of the living before he’s stuck forever.

In an exclusive behind the scenes featurette from the film, co-directors Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina revealed that Abuelita didn’t always enforce rules with her beloved, worn chancla. Initially, Abuelita kept a wooden spoon in her apron to use whenever someone spoke out of turn, but it made a lot more sense for Abuelita’s rule enforcement item of choice to be a sandal.

Not only did it make sense culturally, but it was an experience co-director Adrian Molina could relate to on a personal level.

"I come from a Mexican family myself, and every so often, when I was being a bit of a brat, my mother would come in with a flip-flop and she'd threaten me, saying, 'Do you want a spanking?'" Molina explains in the clip. "And then me and my brother, 'cause usually he was the one who put me up to it, would run to our room and we'd stick children's books in the back of our pants to protect us."

As much as we love the wooden spoon, we think Abuelita’s use of her chancla is so fitting.